So That's Who's Been Standing in the Yard With Binoculars

So, two weeks ago I checked out a book at the library. The way it works now is that instead breezing in and wandering through the stacks to pick out some books it's like a military drill. Get in drop off the returning books, encourage baby to pick a few books in conveniently located kids section and if there happens to be something appealing on the shelf across from the check out I grab it without breaking stride and go! go! go!

The last time I went I swiped Not Ready for Mom Jeans on my way to check out The Very Busy Spider, again. If you're interested in an actual review click the image. I will say I liked it. It wasn't the best book ever, I didn't particularly identify with the main character who was a career woman who drank, a good deal more than I ever did as a single person, postpartum, but it was entertaining and didn't require my complete mental faculties or have anything to do with teenage vampires.

There's this one particular passage where she throws her back out getting ready for work that is pretty much spot on as far as my average day:

"I gingerly picked up my purse and hobbled into Sara's room to get her ready for day-care.
Getting her out of the crib provided somewhat of a challenge, since I couldn't fully lift her. So, I kind of slid her up the side of the crib, pressed her against the outside of it, and slid her down. It would've been much easier had she not been kicking and screaming, and flailing the entire time like a skydiver whose parachute never opened. After that, I tried to entice her to crawl her way to the front door by waving toys in front of her (yes, I realize I was treating her like a dog), but she just sat on the floor in front of her crib and stared at me openmouthed. So, I was forced to half-carry, half-drag her across the carpet to the front door. Cue the flailing and screaming again.
After about a half hour of sweating, cursing and negotiating, I got her outside and into her car seat. I buckled her in, shut the door and wobbled over to driver's side."

At which point the protagonist realizes the keys and baby are locked in the car. For those of you who remember that post, I locked my keys in the car twice in two weeks when Riley was tiny. I never did it while she was inside, thank goodness. I would often scoop her out of her car seat and into the baby carrier and drop my keys on the floor without realizing it. I have complete sympathy for her locking her keys in the car.

There is, however, something very different about her struggle to get the baby out the door and into the car and mine. For the protagonist it was one bad day. For some of us the physical demands of a baby make getting out the door a struggle most days.

There's no guarantee that I will ever feel better physically than I do right now. It was hard to get myself out the door everyday as a single person and babies don't make anything less complicated. For me it has gotten progressively more difficult because she's bigger and my physical condition tends to be dire or post surgical most of the time.